German ski-jumper Wuerth injured after bad crash

Mixed team world champion Svenja Wuerth was rushed to hospital on Saturday after being hurt in a heavy fall during a World Cup team event in Hinterzarten, south-west Germany.

The 24-year-old German, who won gold in the Mixed team normal hill event at the world championships in Lahti, Finland, last February, lost control, then hit the surrounding barriers at high speed in the landing area.

According to SID, an AFP subsidiary, Wuerth lay motionless on the ground for several minutes, but was able to communicate with rescuers who quickly came to her aid.

"Svenja is conscious and feels pain in her knee, she was taken to hospital where she will be examined," said Germany coach Andreas Bauer on ZDF.

In January 2014, Wuerth was hurt while competing in Tchaikowski, Russia, where she admits she only narrowly missed being paralysed.

"If it had been just two or three millimetres different, I would have been in a wheelchair," she said at the time.

Wuerth has finished in the top ten three times this season and is currently seventh in the women's overall World Cup rankings.

© 2017 AFP